الفهرس 
AcknowledgementOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Parasitic diseases constitute one of the most serious health problems in the world today. More than one billion people have been infected by parasites, and many of them are dying from those infections. However, the study of parasitic diseases is important not only because these infections are associated with high morbidity and mortality but also because most of them are preventable when people are armed with the necessary knowledge. Many methods has been described for the examination of stool specimens, for routine examination, it is best to employ certain standard techniques, so that one may become familiar with the advantages and limitation of each. Much time may be lost by using a method for purposes for which it was never intended, and frequently identification of a parasite becomes very difficult or impossible unless the correct method of examination is used . Macroscopic and microscopic examination must be applied on each sample , where a direct microscopical examination of stools must always be made before preparing a concentration , as motile form of protozoa are not found in concentrated preparation . According to the type of parasite , certain specific technique was used . Quality control in parasitology is similar to quality control in other laboratory specialities regarding reagents and equipment that must be monitored to assure their proper performance . In addition , performance of personnel should be monitored periodically with internal and/or external unknown specimens . Ready availability and use of reference materials such as positive slides and faecal specimens , printed atlases containing diagnostic stages , will aid in maintaining proficiency . In a medical laboratory service , quality assurance (QA) concerns all those actions necessary to provide confidence that results of laboratory tests will satisfy defined standards for quality. Taking into account the type of testing concerned and the techniques involved, quality assurance will encompass all steps taken to ensure that laboratory results are reliable. It covers the use of scientifically and technically sound practices for laboratory investigations , including selection , collection , transport, identification , storage, preparation and manipulation of results . QA refers also to other activities designed to improve management , evaluation of the adequacy of the laboratory environment , maintenance and calibration of instruments and the use of technically validated and properly documented methods . Quality assurance can be divided into two major types: external quality control (interlaboratory quality control) and internal quality control (intralaboratory quality control) . External quality control includes : 1. Correct filling in of a request form , for stool examination. 2. Preparation of a patient where this is necessary for a particular test. 3. Correct collection, labeling, storage, and transport of specimens. Internal quality control includes: 1. Selection of appropriate method of examination. 2. Careful recording of results. 3. Correct interpretation of test result. Training and work experience, quality of materials and equipment and also quality of specimen shows important evidence. The present work was performed to evaluate of the quality of services provided by the medical laboratories for diagnosis of some parasitic infection , to assess the laboratory’s designs and equipment , to investigate the performance of the operator during analysis and to assess the efficacy of the techniques used in the analysis , and also development of a program for quality assurance of laboratory diagnosis of parasitic infection . This study was done on 41 laboratories chosen from all health care systems in Alexandria , they were distributed as follows : 22 labs. from Ministry of Health , 8 from Health Insurance, 3 from Medical care Organization , 6 from the labs. of Private Sector , and two from the University Hospital. Each laboratory was visited for about a week and the data regarding evaluation of the design of the lab. and its equipment were collected in a pre-designed check list. These laboratories were supervised and enrolled by 122 personnel , 10 chemists and 112 technicians their years of experience varied from < 5 - > 15 in the following fields stool and urine analysis , chemical analysis , and both the previous fields. Highest percentage of experienced lab. staff was 81.97 in the field of the stool & urine and chemical analysis . Due to the importance of the training courses , we found it is essential to include them in our study